We Got the Tribute Unit and Then Some

This nd the three photographs below illustrate the dispatching on CSX in which the Q009 passes another train west of Fostoria and then that train crosses over and proceeds westward.

Second of two parts

We arrived in Deshler to find the railroad fairly busy with east and west traffic.  

There was an interesting lash-up of an un-rebuilt SD40-2 leading an un-rebuilt GE Dash 8 that had been recently reactivated from the dead line.

It was still in YN2 paint but pretty shoddy looking. Unfortunately, I did not get a photo as I had left my camera in the car.

Another westbound, this time with BNSF power and flying two small USA flags, showed up. I did get this one having learned my lesson.

Finally the Q016 came but stopped west of town.  We didn’t know why but found out that North Baltimore yard was congested and he needed to wait for room.

We went to Ohio Route 65 crossing and got him there about 7 p.m. When he got underway we raced ahead to Hoytville where he again stopped.

 He finally got into the yard just before 8 p.m. and the dispatcher said he didn’t have any work here today. He would just re-crew and since that crew was on duty we hoped he would quickly get underway again.

Alas those hopes were dashed by some of the strangest dispatching I have seen or heard of.

Just west of Fostoria a westbound double-stack train was stopped on Track 1. The Q009 passed him on Track 2 and crossed over to Track 1 ahead of him.

So far so good but when the other train got going it crossed over from Track 1 to Track 2 and proceeded west.

We were extremely befuddled and annoyed knowing that any hopes of getting the Q016 again in daylight were not good.  

I found out later that North Baltimore was having issues with switches not working. This could be the reason why the trains were crossed over outside of Fostoria. 

We continued to Fostoria and saw a garbage train turn south on the former Chesapeake & Ohio. This took a good 15-20 minutes after which we went to dinner. The Denny’s in Tiffin was the only sit-down restaurant still open.

The Q016 did come through Fostoria just after 9 p.m. and didn’t have any more delays as it headed east but our chase was over.

As we drove home through Attica we saw a signal for a southbound Norfolk Southern train.

We waited and soon heard a northbound climbing the grade with two Union Pacific engines led by another old GE Dash 8 pulled from the deadlines with about 200 cars behind it.

After he cleared, the southbound came with another almost 200-car train. This ended our day and we drove home.

Article and Photographs by Todd Dillon

30 Trains Recorded during ARRC Deshler Dash

The motive power for CSX Q134 sees its reflection in a pond adjacent to the Toledo Subdivision on Sunday in Deshler, Ohio. The train, which originated in Cincinnati, was bound for the intermodal sorting facility at nearby North Baltimore. (Photograph by Craig Sanders)

Eight Akron Railroad Club members made the dash to Deshler, Ohio, on Sunday for the club’s annual longest day outing. Although we didn’t keep a formal log of the trains seen, we estimated that 30 trains passed through the “Crossroads of the Baltimore & Ohio” during our time there.

Member Rick Houck was the first to arrive and was later joined by Marty Surdyk, Tim Krogg, Todd Vander Sluis, Craig Sanders, Bill Kubas, Paul Woodring and Richard Jacobs.

Traffic was fairly steady throughout the day and featured the usual mix of intermodal, manifest, tank car and auto rack trains. There was a smattering of “foreign power” including units from BNSF and Union Pacific. Late in the day, the run-through Canadian Pacific train, the Q166, made an appearance with two CP locomotives leading.

Most of the trains that passed through were on the east-west line, but several took one of the three connections  between the east-west and north-south lines. Most went from the Willard Subdivision to or from the Toledo located in the southeast quadrant of the diamond.

We had expected to see the eastbound Union Pacific run through perishable commodities train with its string of reefers and UP power. That train seems to operate eastbound through western Ohio on Sunday, but it never showed during our time in Deshler.

A couple of members played good Samaritan by helping a guy from the Cincinnati area change a flat tire on his RV. The guy and his family had camped out in the railfan park over the weekend.

After calling a day at 7:30 p.m., five of us had dinner at the Bob Evans restaurant in Fremont.